Plant · P-955

Brazilwood

Paubrasilia echinata

Brazilwood is a slow-growing thorny evergreen shrub or small tree in the legume family native to the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil. It fixes nitrogen through root nodules and its dense heartwood yields brazilin - a red dye once central to the European textile trade and still used today for violin bows. It wants full sun on well-drained neutral to alkaline soil and tolerates drought once established but is hardy only to about USDA zone 10 with no tolerance for hard frost. IUCN lists it as endangered from historical over-harvest so nursery stock is preferable to wild-collected seed.